Bar code printer

ABSTRACT

A bar code printer utilizes a plurality of uniform selectively displaceable slugs which are selectively positioned and clamped to form a type font of the bar coded character which is to be printed on a suitable media. The uniform selectively displaceable slugs have a width equal to the smallest bar size which must be printed and the longer bar sizes are printed by selecting multiple adjacent slugs. The slugs are free during selection and clamped prior to and during the printing process to provide a precisely dimensional font of the coded characters to be printed.

United States Patent 1191 Wolfheimer BAR CODE PRINTER [75] Inventor: Albert Daniel Wolfheimer, Raleigh,

[73] Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY.

22 Filed: Oct.2, 1972 21 Appl. No.3 294,058

[52] US. Cl. 101/93 MN, 197/] R [51] Int. Cl .1 B4lj 3/50 [58] Field of Search 197/4, 14, 1 R; 178/33, 178/27; 101/1 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,079,130 5/1937 OBrien 197/4 2,089,603 8/1937 Hagelin 197/4 2,156,097 4/1939 Salmon 2,765,364 10/1956 Hagelin 1. 197/4 X June 28, 1974 2,969,135 1/1961 F6116 197/4 3,157,264 11/1964 Prechette... 197/16 3,349,882 10/1967 F1611 et 1.,,,..,, 197/4 Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey Assistant Examiner-R. T. Rader Attorney, Agent, or Firm-John B. Frisone [57] ABSTRACT A bar code printer utilizes a plurality of uniform selectively displaceable slugs which are selectively posi tioned and clamped to form a type font of the bar coded character which is to be printed on a suitable media. The uniform selectively displaceable slugs have a width equal to the smallest bar size which must be printed and the longer bar sizes are printed by selecting multiple adjacent slugs. The slugs are free during selection and clamped prior to and during the printing process to provide a precisely dimensional font of the coded characters to be printed.

8 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures VlSlBLE INDEX NUMBER PATENTEBJUN28 I974 3.820.456

sum 1 0f 5 FIG.1

FONT NUMBER DESIGNATION 1 PATENTEDauuza m4 3320.456

sum 2 or 5 6 3 A /NUMBER iATENTEUJUN 2 a 1924 SHEEI 3 OF 5 FIG. 4

IIIIHNIHIIII 32 Pmimmmzw 3.820.456

- SHEEI 5 OF 5 FIG. 7

BAR CODE PRINTER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to printers in general and more particularly to means for forming a type front suitable for printing bar coded characters on paper or similar media.

2. Description of the Prior Art A wide variety of printing mechanisms are currently available, however, with a few exceptions they are primarily designed to imprint human readable information. Most are unsuited for on site printing of machine readable bar coded data.

Automated retail systems have been developed which depend heavily on source coded merchandise, automatic readers and computer controlled systems for implementing'the automated system. However, many of the items sold are not readily susceptible to source marking and must be marked at the sale site. Large expensive printing devices are quite capable of imprinting high density bar codes on labels and tags which are applied to merchandise at the manufacturing or packing level. There are nevertheless substantial numbers of items sold in retail outlets which can not be marked at the common source and must be marked at the retail outlet where they are prepared or packaged for sale. Inexpensive or portable imprinters currently available are not capable of printing bar codes with sufficient precision to enable use of sufficiently dense codes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention contemplates a selectively settable type font for printing bar coded characters which includes a plurality of juxtaposed slugs of uniform size each dimensioned to equal the smallest bar size which is to be printed, selection means for selectively positioning said slugs to a first active and a second inactive position. and clamping means operative after said selection has been completed to retain said slugs in intimate contacting juxtaposition.

One object of the invention is to provide a selectively settable type font for printing bar coded characters which is suitable for use in an inexpensive printer.

Another object of the invention is to provide a selectively settable type font for a printer which is suitable for printing high density bar coded characters.

A further object of the invention is to provide a selectively settable type font for printing bar coded characters which is suitable for use in a lightweight portable printing mechanism for on site printing of bar coded characters on labels suitable for attachment to merchandise which is to be sold at the site.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages. of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a graphic illustration in tabular form of an entire bar coded font which includes 15 different characters.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a label or ticket printer incorporating a selectively settable type font for bar coded characters constructed according to the invention.

FIG. 7 is a side elevation similar to FIG. 3 showing an alternate form of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The 15 unique bar coded fonts illustrated in FIG. 1 are adequate and suitable for coding merchandise in a retail store or supermarket. The code selected is one of many different codes vwhich could be implemented by the invention and is merely illustrative. Each of the 15 different characters has nine equal slots 81-59 and includes alternating areas of different reflectivity. The alternating areas may be formed by selectively depositing ink or some other material on a media of different reflective characteristic by a printing process. The deposited areas are illustrated by the hatched region in the figure.

All of the bar coded characters are of equal extent and include three printed and three non-printed areas. For example, the seventh font which designates the numeric character six is provided with a first printed area having a three slot horizontal extent. This is followed by a blank or non-printed area one slot wide. The second printed area is one slot wide and is followed by a blank area one slot wide. The third printed area is two slots wide and the final blank area is one slot wide. If several characters are to be printed in a row the first printed area of a following character will be positioned immediately following the ninth slot of the preceding character. In the code selected for illustration, the first, sixth, seventh and ninth slots for each of the 15 characters are identical and therefore these slots need not be selectable since they each remain unchanged regardless of the character in the set. The second, third, fourth, fifth and eighth slots for each of the characters in the set vary from character to character and therefore must be capable of selection if a single mechanism is to print all of the characters.

FIG. 2 illustrates a complete printer embodying the selectable type font according to the invention and includes twenty thumb wheels 10 protruding through the top of a cover 1 1. Each of the thumb wheels is provided with the 15 indicia or designations set forth in FIG. 1;,

Positioning a thumbwheel so that the desired designation appears in the window formed in the cover automatically sets the font associated with the positioned thumbwheel to the form indicated in FIG. 1. With 20 thumbwheels, 20 bar coded characters will be printed by the printer.

A roll of tickets 12 mounted on the rear of cover 11 pass through the printer and exits from a discharge slot 14 in the front of cover 11 after they have been printed with the bar coded characters. When the desired number of tickets have been printed the thumb wheels are reset to another code which must be printed. The details of the printer such as the paper transport, inking mechanism, etc., will not be shown since any conventional mechanism may be used. The specification will be directed to the selectively settable bar coded font mechanism only. This mechanism may be combined with other well-known mechanisms to complete the printing mechanism.

The thumbwheel l0, partially visible in FIG. 2, is illustrated in greater detail in FIG. 3 and includes finger recesses 16 each bearing one of the unique designation indicated. The recesses 16 are uniformly distributed about one-half of the periphery of the thumbwheel 10. Fifteen detent notches 17 are uniformly distributed about the other half of the periphery of wheel 10 and in cooperation with a detent 18 lock the wheel 10 in a selected position under operator control.

Each thumbwheel 10 has associated with it five cam members 20 only one of which is illustrated in this figure. The wheel 10 and cams 20 are mounted on a sup port shaft 21 for rotation. The cams 20 are angularly oriented with the thumbwheel 10 by pins 22 attached to the thumbwheel 10.

Each of the five earns 20 controls a type slug carrier 23 and causes it to reside in one of two positions (one of which is illustrated in dotted lines) depending on its angular orientation. The slug carriers 23 are urged into contact with the circumference of the cams 20 by a return spring 24 attached to an extension 25 on carrier 23 and to a fixed return spring anchor 26. The shape and arrangement of the five cams associated with each of the thumbwheels 10 is illustrated in FIGS. SA-E and will be described later. Spacer discs 27 illustrated in FIG. 5F are inserted on shaft 21 and pins 22.and positioned between each of the cams 20.

FIG. 4 illustrates the physical arrangement of the thumbwheels 10, the slug carriers 23 and the print station 28. Twenty thumbwheels 10, their associated cams 20 and spacers 27 are mounted on shaft 21. The slug carriers 23 associated with each thumbwheel are guided by guides 34 to the print station 28. A clamping member 29 under control of a spring 30 exerts a clamping force on the type slugs at the print station 28 causing the slugs and associated carriers to remain in intimate contacting spaced relationship at the print station. A solenoid 31 is energized to release the clamp when the wheels 10 must be set up. Only three guides 34 and three sets of carriers 23 have been illustrated. The remainder are similar in structure. It should be noted that the paths for the carriers differ depending on their placement. The carriers may in manufacture be assembled and the type slugs dimensioned after assem bly machining. How this may be accomplished will become apparent as they description continues. A bail shaft 32 passes through the extremes of carriers 23. The arrangement and function of bail shaft 32 will be described later.

FIGS. SA-E illustrate the form of the cams for controlling positions S2, S3, S4, S5 and S8. It should be noted that these cams correspond directly to the illustrated character format in FIG. 1. No cams are required for positions S1, S6 and S7 since they are uniform throughout the set. The cam for position S2 is unrelieved for six consecutive angular segments from the initial starting point P which corresponds to the blanks appearing in this position in the first six characters of the set. It is relieved in the seventh and eighth position to provide unblanked printing which is required to produce the seventh and eighth characters. The next five positions are unrelieved and correspond to the blanks required in the ninth through 13th characters of the set and is relieved in the last two positions to provide printed marks in the second position (S2) for the last two characters of the set. The correspondence between the remaining four cams and the associated positions in FIG. 1 may be similarly observed. The cams are provided with holes 35 and 36 which cooperate with shaft 21 and pins 22 for mounting and locating the cams with respect to the thumbwheel 10.

The cams control the position of the associated type slug carrier 23. Where the cam is unrelieved, the carrier 23 is so positioned that a type slug 37, see FIG. 6, controlled by carrier 23 is placed in a non-printing position shown in dotted line in FIG. 6. When a relieved portion of the cam is in alignment with the carrier 23, the type slug 37 is placed in the print position and a mark corresponding to the type slug is printed on a suitable media when a complete print cycle is initiated.

A solenoid 38 via its armature 39 and a pivoted bail operating arm 40 controls bail shaft 32. When it is necessary to set the thumbwheels 10, solenoid 38 is energized and causes armature 39 to move to the right. Bail operating arm 40 pivots counterclockwise about a shaft 41 moving bail shaft 32 to the left. Bail shaft 32 engages the bail shaft clearance slot 42 in carrier 23 and moves all carriers 23 out of engagement with their associated cams. After thumbwheels 10 have been set, solenoid 38 is deenergized and the carriers 23 are returned into engagement with the cams by return spring 24. Each of the carriers is provided with a second clearance slot 42 which provides clearance for a pair of fixed pins 43 which support spacers 44 for positions S6 and S9 for each character and type slugs 45 for positions S1 and S7 for each character. Since positions S6 and S9 are always blank and positions S1 and S7 are always nonblanks elements 44 and 45 may be fixed and need not be made settable. If another code or character set is utilized, all positions in each character could be made settable as are positions 82-85 and S8.

FIG. 7 illustrates a modification of the structure shown in FIG. 3 which permits electrical setting of the font. The earns 20 are replaced by permutation bars 20' which are operated by select solenoids 10'. The permutation bars 20 are provided with a protrusion 50 which holds the carrier 23 in the non-print position. When the select solenoid 10 is energized, the armature 10" partially withdraws the bar 20' from a guide 20" displacing protrusion 50 upward thus permitting carrier 23 to move to the right placing the type slug associated there with in the print station 28. This modification is suitable for use where character printing is to take place under computer control rather than manually.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A selectively settable type font suitable for use in printing coded characters which are composed of alternating bars and spaces of uniform height and differing widths which are integral multiples of the smallest bar width used to form the coded characters comprising:

a plurality of uniform slugs, each having a printing surface suitable for printing a rectangular image,

said surface having a uniform length and a width equal to the said smallest bar width used to form the coded characters; guide means for retaining said plurality of uniform slugs in side-by-side relationship; selection means coacting with each said slug for substantially simultaneously and selectively linearly positioning each of said slugs to a first active position in which said printing surface is positioned within a printing station and a second inactive position in which said printing surface is positioned outside of said printing station; and clamping means operative after the selection means has been operated for clamping said slugs in intimate contacting side-by-side relationship. 2. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 1 in which each of said slugs is an elongated member of generally rectangular cross section and includes a protrusion which forms the above said printing surface, and in addition includes a cam surface for coacting with the said selection means for selectively positioning the slugs to a first active and a second inactive position.

3. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 2 in which said selection means includes:

a circular member mounted for rotation about its center and bearing indicia about one half its periphery;

means for detenting said circular member in a predetermined number of angular positions covering about 180 of rotation; and

a plurality of cam members, one for each of said slugs; mounted for rotation with said circular member and each having a plurality of different cam surfaces and each arranged to coact with the cam surface on one of the slugs to position said slugs as a function of the position of the cam surface of the cam member in engagement with the cam on the slug.

4. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 2 in which said selection means includes:

a plurality of cam members each having first and second cam surfaces arranged so that said first cam surface engages the cam surface on the slug to position the slug in said first position; and

means for selectively displacing said plurality of cam members to cause said second cam surface to engage said cam surface on the slug associated therewith when selected to position said slug in said second position.

5. A selectively settable type font suitable for use in printing coded characters which are composed of alternating bars and spaces of uniform height and differing widths which are integral multiples of the smallest bar width used to form the coded characters comprising:

a plurality of uniform slugs each having a surface suitable for printing a rectangular image, said surfaces having a uniform length and a width equal to the said smallest bar width used to form the coded characters; guide means for retaining said plurality of uniform slugs in side-by-side relationship; selection means coating with each of said slugs for substantially simultaneously selectively linearly positioning each of said slugs to a first active position in which said printing surface is positioned within a printing station and a second inactive position in which said printing surface is positioned outside of said printing station; means for positioning said slugs to a third set up position in which said slugs are functionally disengaged from said selection means; and clamping means operable after the selection means has been operated for clamping said slugs in intimate contacting side-by-side relationship. 6. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 5 in which each of said slugs is an elongated member of generally rectangular cross section and includes a protrusion which forms the above said printing surface, and in addition includes a cam surface for coacting with the said selection means for selectively positioning the slugs to a first active and a second inactive position.

7. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 6 in which said selection means includes:

a circular member mounted for rotation about is center and bearing indicia about one half its periphery;

means for detenting said circular member in a predetermined number of angular positions covering about l of rotation; and

a plurality of cam members, one for each of said slugs, mounted for rotation with said circular member and each having a plurality of. different cam surfaces and arranged to coact with the cam surface on one of the slugs to position said slugs as a function of the position of the cam surface of the cam member in engagement with the cam on the slug.

8. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 6 in which said selection means includes:

a plurality of cam members each having a first and second cam surface arranged so that said first cam surface engages the cam surface on the slug to position the slug in said first position; and

means for selectively displacing said plurality of cam members to cause said second cam surface to engage said cam surface on the slug associated therewith when selected to position said slug in said second position. 

1. A selectively settable type font suitable for use in printing coded characters which are composed of alternating bars and spaces of uniform height and differing widths which are integral multiples of the smallest bar width used to form the coded characters comprising: a plurality of uniform slugs, each having a printing surface suitable for printing a rectangular image, said surface having a uniform length and a width equal to the said smallest bar width used to form the coded characters; guide means for retaining said plurality of uniform slugs in side-by-side relationship; selection means coacting with each said slug for substantially simultaneously and selectively linearly positioning each of said slugs to a first active position in which said printing surface is positioned within a printing station and a second inactive position in which said printing surface is positioned outside of said printing station; and clamping means operative after the selection means has been operated for clamping said slugs in intimate contacting sideby-side relationship.
 2. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 1 in which each of said slugs is an elongated member of generally rectangular cross section and includes a protrusion which forms the above said printing surface, and in addition includes a cam surface for coacting with the said selection means for selectively positioning the slugs to a first active and a second inactive position.
 3. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 2 in which said selection means iNcludes: a circular member mounted for rotation about its center and bearing indicia about one half its periphery; means for detenting said circular member in a predetermined number of angular positions covering about 180* of rotation; and a plurality of cam members, one for each of said slugs, mounted for rotation with said circular member and each having a plurality of different cam surfaces and each arranged to coact with the cam surface on one of the slugs to position said slugs as a function of the position of the cam surface of the cam member in engagement with the cam on the slug.
 4. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 2 in which said selection means includes: a plurality of cam members each having first and second cam surfaces arranged so that said first cam surface engages the cam surface on the slug to position the slug in said first position; and means for selectively displacing said plurality of cam members to cause said second cam surface to engage said cam surface on the slug associated therewith when selected to position said slug in said second position.
 5. A selectively settable type font suitable for use in printing coded characters which are composed of alternating bars and spaces of uniform height and differing widths which are integral multiples of the smallest bar width used to form the coded characters comprising: a plurality of uniform slugs each having a surface suitable for printing a rectangular image, said surfaces having a uniform length and a width equal to the said smallest bar width used to form the coded characters; guide means for retaining said plurality of uniform slugs in side-by-side relationship; selection means coating with each of said slugs for substantially simultaneously selectively linearly positioning each of said slugs to a first active position in which said printing surface is positioned within a printing station and a second inactive position in which said printing surface is positioned outside of said printing station; means for positioning said slugs to a third set up position in which said slugs are functionally disengaged from said selection means; and clamping means operable after the selection means has been operated for clamping said slugs in intimate contacting side-by-side relationship.
 6. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 5 in which each of said slugs is an elongated member of generally rectangular cross section and includes a protrusion which forms the above said printing surface, and in addition includes a cam surface for coacting with the said selection means for selectively positioning the slugs to a first active and a second inactive position.
 7. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 6 in which said selection means includes: a circular member mounted for rotation about is center and bearing indicia about one half its periphery; means for detenting said circular member in a predetermined number of angular positions covering about 180* of rotation; and a plurality of cam members, one for each of said slugs, mounted for rotation with said circular member and each having a plurality of different cam surfaces and arranged to coact with the cam surface on one of the slugs to position said slugs as a function of the position of the cam surface of the cam member in engagement with the cam on the slug.
 8. A selectively settable type font as set forth in claim 6 in which said selection means includes: a plurality of cam members each having a first and second cam surface arranged so that said first cam surface engages the cam surface on the slug to position the slug in said first position; and means for selectively displacing said plurality of cam members to cause said second cam surface to engage said cam surface on the slug associated therewith when selected to position said slug in said second position. 